Apothecaries' Duty
by TonyLogan
Summary: Among the ruins of an Ork battle, Apothecary Rictus must race against time to save his fallen brother's geneseeds.


A huge explosion rocked the largest and last of the Ork command ships. Captain Benedictus of the 3rd company of Ultramarines watched carefully as the xenos ship broke apart and burned in the nearby planet's atmosphere.

"Chaplain Stratos," the captain said turning away from the monitor to face the skull masked battle brother.

"Begin prayers for our fallen battle brothers. Their boarding action was the sacrifice responsible for the victory."

Apothecary Rictus waited patiently for all of the Chaplain's prayers to finish before approaching the Captain.

"Captain Benedictus, I must go to It the surface of that planet and retrieve our brave brothers' gene seed from the wreckage."

"Request denied, Brother Rictus. We are to start orbital bombard of this planet before the Orks can contact the rest of their warband. Zagshokk 'Ugefist is down there, and he will not escape the Emperor again. We have lost too many planets to this filth. "

"My Lord, it will take some time for the other ships to properly deliver the payload. Let me take a small group to retrieve their gene seeds that their valor may live again, as the Codex Astartes decrees," The Apothecary said.

The Ultramarine captain didn't like Brother Rictus using the Codex to manipulate his judgement, but appreciated his passion.

"You have until this chronometer runs out to retrieve the Brothers' gene seed and Sergeant Viconious' precious Terminator armor from that wreck should they still exist. You will take a homing beacon and activate it to return," the Captain said as he set the timepiece and tossed it to the Apothecary.

The Captain sent orders to a nearby sergeant to alert four battle brothers to go down and assist Rictus in his task. Brother Flavis the stealthy, even tempered scout. Brother Termon the tenacious Jump Assault specialist. Brother Heron the stoic, often mute Devastator. Brother Vontos the calculating Tactical Marine. They were immediately briefed and teleported down to the planet within 10 clicks of the wreck site. Flavis hit the ground running and started to scout the surrounding area. He located a high ridge on the charred surface for Heron to set up his Heavy Bolter. Vontus accompanied Rictus and Termon into the burning wreckage of the Great Ork ship.

Once inside, Rictus activated his illuminator; he and Vontos started to climb through the twisted blackened metal and over the remains of fallen Orks. Termon did a few quick jumps to the exposed top floor and was all knew where the Orks' engines were in the ship. That was the most likely place to find their brothers' remains.

"We have six battle brothers' gene seeds and one suit of Terminator armor to retrieve," Brother Rictus said reading an auspex. As Rictus and Vontos climbed through the burning wreckage, Flavis clicked onto the comm line.

"Brother Rictus. Ork vehicle on the way. About ten onboard, with one larger one."

"Copy Flavis. Open fire when in range."

"Yes, Brother. Flavis out."

"Brother Heron. Have a welcome for them as well."

"I shall, Brother Rictus."

Flavis readied his sniper rifle on the driver and waited. The Ork Trukk pulled in closer, and Flavis squeezed the trigger, exploding the Ork driver's head. The entire vehicle veered to the right suddenly before rolling over multiple times. The Trukk's green-skinned riders flew every possible direction. Devastator Heron proceeded to evaporate some of the stunned Ork passengers with Heavy Bolter fire. The few remaining Orks took cover behind the smoking wreck, hastily throwing rounds at the marines with their inaccurate weapons.

Inside the wreck, Rictus recovered two of his fallen brothers' gene seeds with relative ease. Termon found one as well and was on his way back down to the Apothecary. As Termon pulled open one of the doors of the ship, Ork shoota fire tore into him, and he fell over breathing heavily. Five Ork Boyz came lumbering in and searched for more targets. Brother Rictus fired up his chainsword, charged, and tore into the first one, digging deep into its collar and tearing through the chest, spilling the Ork's innards. The second one lost his leg as Rictus swung underhand, then spun, finally burying the chainsword's hilt in the greenskin's chest. The Apothecary got off a snap fire shot on the remaining three. A bolt emptied the third Ork's skull, its body dropped into a lifeless heap.

The next two were on Rictus before he could get another shot off. The first Ork head-butted the marine, cracking his helmet and sending him stumbling backwards. The second Ork dislodged Rictus' bolt pistol from his grip with a crude axe weapon and it spiralled off into the burning debris heaps.

Rictus rolled the greenskin over onto its back and attempted to drive his reductor drill into its filthy tooth filled maw. The other Ork reached out to grab ahold of the struggling apothecary. With a loud hiss, Brother Termon landed on the distracted Ork, crushing him. Termon dropped the fallen marine he was carrying and reached up with his sword to strike the last Ork. His attention divided, the Ork on top of Rictus looked away, giving the Apothecary the few seconds he needed to scramble the few contents of the greenskin's skull. Termon helped Rictus to his feet, and looked down at the crushed homing beacon. The Apothecary removed his cracked helmet and picked up a few of the pieces, studying them.

"This is worthless now," the Apothecary said wiping the debris from his palm.

"Is there another way out of here?" Termon asked, dragging the two deceased marines over to him.

"I am not sure, but this does not change our mission," Rictus said as he walked over to Vontus' body and removed his gene seed.

Outside, Brother Flavis and Brother Heron were exploding Orks where they stood. Their small ridge was indeed a great spot. Finally, the large Ork Nob charged from the billowing smoke of the Trukk, throwing multiple stikkbombs onto the ridge. Flavis snap-fired a shot, wounding the Nob's shoulder, then tackled Heron off the ridge as the bombs tore the raised ground apart.

Brother Heron stood quickly and grabbed Flavis by the throat, lifting him in the air.

"You cost me my Heavy Bolter, scout. It was crafted by master crafted by Techmarine Natos!"

"I saved... you...from the stikkbombs," Flavis said as he struggled.

Heron held him there for a few seconds, suffocating Flavis, then dropped him and pulled his combat knife and bolt pistol. The large Ork Nob was running towards them. One arm dangling and useless, one with a Power Klaw. Flavis took aim and was about to fire.

"NO! Flavis, he is my kill," Heron said as he started to stomp towards the Nob.

"What?" The scout said in disbelief.

The Ork Nob let out a loud "WAAAAAAAAG," as he ran towards the Devastator.

Deep inside the wrecked Ork Ship, Apothecary Rictus and Brother Termon collected all the viable gene seeds. The Battle Brothers delved further into the bowels of the patchwork vehicle. Rictus' chronometer was running out and he had not yet found Sergeant Viconius' Tactical Dreadnaught Armor. Rictus knew that with his homing beacon destroyed, the only chance they had of getting back was to locate the Terminator's built in homing beacon.

The engine room was smoldering metal slag surrounded by warped platforms. The boarding party had used melta bombs on the engines to obliterate them. The trip through the atmosphere just added to the heat of the ship. If Sergeant Viconius wasn't blown into space from the blast this is where he would be. The area was surprisingly clear of Ork remains. Rictus used his auspex; due to the surrounding temperature, thermals were no good, but bio signs showed a few nearby. Termon pulled open the doors to the next room; that is when he saw it. The end of the hall was literally filled with greenskin corpses.

Termon moved into the corridor and started to inspect the bodies. He figured he might find Sergeant Viconius' body among all the Ork boyz he had killed. Once Termon got close, he quickly noticed movement. A wall of Ork boyz avalanched downward in a green wave. Behind it, the Warboss Zagshokk Ugefist rose to his feet and moved forward, barely fitting into the hallway. He had been injured in the crash, but impossibly, the combined protection of his 'Eavy Armor and his loyal greenskins' sacrifices cushioning their boss from the crash allowed him to survive.

"Brother Rictus, Zagshokk is here. He is alive," Termon said falling back to the engine room with the Apothecary.

"You humies are gonna get splatted for wreckin me Cruizer," the large warboss said.

Termon made a quick jump through the doors and secured them behind him. He then jumped to the Apothecary and awaited the attack.

Heron traded blows with the Nob for a few rounds then buried his knife into the shoulder of the large greenskin. Heron managed to dodge the full brunt of the Ork's Power Klaw, which allowed the fight to continue. Flavis trained his sniper's targeter dot over the Nob's skull.

"Do. Not. Kill him, Flavis. Do. Not. Kill him," The Space Marine said through ragged breaths.

"I am just being cautious, brother."

The large Ork kicked the Devastator, forcing him to the ground. As Heron rose to his feet, the Nob snatched him off the ground with his Power Klaw and started to crush him. The Marine fought relentlessly against the crude Ork weapon. Punching and kicking with all of his might, Heron finally reached for his combat knife from earlier, still protruding from the Ork's flesh. The knife was just out of Heron's reach and the marine started to feel his insides start to crush.

"Shoot him, Flavis! Shoot. Him," the Devastator said, coughing blood.

The Nob's mouth opened wide and a loud foul-smelling howl rang out as it lifted its Power Klaw. With a thunderous crack, the Nob's head exploded into a shower of gore. The headless body fell over limp as Heron struggled to free himself from the clutches of the junk tech.

"I can hear him breaking through, Rictus," Termon said. "How much time do we have?"

"Very little, and we may have to cut our losses."

"Do you think Benedictus will fire on the planet if we are still here?"

The Apothecary did not answer. He pondered the question as he saw something moving in the liquid slag pit.

With a crash, the Hulking Warboss charged out of the barricaded doors firing wildly.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaagh," came bellowing out of the beast's mouth. Rictus held his chainsword in his hand and waited to strike. Termon blasted straight up with his jump pack to avoid the last of the Warboss' Shoota slugs. ZagShokk took the Apothecary's hit and barrelled into him full force, sending the marine spiraling into the wall. Brother Termon landed directly behind the huge Ork and started slashing his chainsword in an effort to breach the Warboss' armor. ZagShokk's armor clunked and whirred as he spun quickly and backhanded the top heavy Assault Marine to the ground a few feet away.

Termon's vision was cloudy and could only just make out the giant Ork that stomped over to him. The Warboss lifted his foot and began stomping the marine to death. The first couple of hits were absorbed by the ceramite armor, but the armor quickly started cracking as his jump pack broke off.

Termon could not get to his feet and was about to accept his inevitable fate when behind the Warboss, something stirred and rose from the slag. The Assault Marine recognized the white charred helmet and the dark blue adamantium plates as the Terminator stood, magma seeping off him. ZaggShokk spun around in time to receive a large Power Fist to his chest. ZaggShokk staggered backward before counterattacking with his razor sharp Power Klaw. The Terminator just weaved away from the hit and landed another Power Fist attack on the beast sending him backward.

The old Warboss wasn't done yet. He caught the Terminator's other armored glove in his Klaw and closed it, crushing Viconius' arm completely. Viconius gave out a loud grunt and readied his Power Fist for another blow.

Apothecary Rictus ran his narthecium into what he guessed was a power generator on the Ork's armor. Black liquid spewed out as Brother Rictus was thrown backward by the force of electrocution. The Warboss' 'Eavy Armor immediately began to seize.

"You 'Ummies are all dead. You 'ear! Dead! I 'ave got an army of Orks 'eaded this way right now!"

As The giant greenskin tried to tear himself from his failing armor, Brother Termon ran over, and shoved the beast. Viconius did the same and the large beats fell right over enclosing him in his own protection.

"Hold on to these for me," Termon said dropping his four Krak Grenades onto the Warboss. He and Viconius made there way to Rictus, helped him to his feet, and exited the wreck just as the explosion went off inside.

Outside the bodies of Orks littered the ground, the Ork Trukk they came in still smoldering.

"I can see you two have been busy," Rictus said surveying the carnage.

The Terminator Sergeant activated his homing beacon, and the other marines encircled him closely.

The first of hundreds of melta-torpedoes rained down to the planet. Explosions and shockwaves tore through the air. WIth a loud CRACK! and a flash of light the Space Marines were gone. The sky changed from a greenish blue to a deep orange-red. Fire erupted on the horizon until the wave of destruction passed over the entire surface of the planet. The planet's mantle cracked and buckled under the immense explosions.

Aboard the Battle Barge, Chaplain Stratos held vigil for the fallen while Rictus prepared his brothers' Gene Seeds for cryo-storage until they reached Ultramar.


End file.
